Enhanced email service

ABSTRACT

An enhanced email service that mitigates drawbacks of conventional email services by enabling transmission of encrypted content to a recipient regardless of the recipient having a prior relationship with the sender or having credentials issued from a certificate authority. A method is provided for receiving encrypted content and generating a message includes both the encrypted content as an attachment and a link to enable decrypted access to the decrypted content. The method may include transmitting the message to an intended recipient&#39;s mailbox while also storing the message in an organizational mailbox to provide for subsequent decryption of the encrypted content. The link may provide the intended recipient of the message with decrypted access to the encrypted content in various ways depending on, for example, whether the recipient is viewing the message through a webmail browser or through a local mail client that is compatible with the enhanced email service.

PRIORITY APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/603,356, filed May 23, 2017, which claims thebenefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/444,313,filed Jan. 9, 2017, the entire contents of both are incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND

Currently there are a number of different cryptographic email servicesavailable to enable a sender to transmit encrypted message content to arecipient and to provide the recipient with an ability to decrypt thecontent. Many of these mechanisms have specific advantages and drawbacksto using them. For example, although one such mechanism known as SecureMultipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) may enable a recipient toreceive encrypted content and a corresponding key to decrypt thecontent, the applicability of S/MIME is limited in terms of potentialrecipients because this standard requires each of the sender and therecipient to obtain credentials from their respective in-housecertificate authority (CA) or a public CA before this functionality canbe utilized. Due to this limitation, when sending encrypted contentoutside of an organization, the sender may lack confidence that therecipient will be able to successfully decrypt the content upon receiptbecause the sender may be unsure of whether the recipient has obtainedcredentials or will do so if prompted. This concern could be partiallymitigated by limiting potential recipients to individuals from withinone's own organization (e.g. co-workers with email addresses operatingon the same domain) or at least recipients whom are known to havealready obtained credentials from a public CA. The clear drawbacks toS/MIME, and other similar cryptographic email services, include limitingthe pool of potential recipients to one's own organization and/orrequiring recipients to go through the cumbersome process of obtainingcredentials from a CA prior to sending encrypted content.

It is with respect to these considerations and others that thedisclosure made herein is presented.

SUMMARY

Technologies are described herein for providing an enhanced emailservice that mitigates drawbacks associated with conventional emailservices by, for example, enabling transmission of encrypted content toan intended recipient regardless of the intended recipient having aprior relationship with the sender or having obtained credentials from acertificate authority (CA). Generally described, configurationsdisclosed herein reduce barriers to successfully and confidentlytransmitting encrypted message content to any recipient email address.According to aspects of the present disclosure, a method is provided forreceiving encrypted content and, based thereon, generating a messagethat designates the recipient email address and includes both theencrypted content as an attachment and a link to enable decrypted accessto the encrypted content. The method may also include transmitting themessage to the intended recipient's mailbox while also storing themessage in an organizational mailbox to enable subsequent decryption ofthe encrypted content. The link may be configured to provide theintended recipient of the message with decrypted access to the encryptedcontent in various ways depending on, for example, whether the recipientis viewing the message through a webmail browser or through a local mailclient that is compatible with the enhanced email service.

For illustrative purposes, consider a scenario where the recipient of amessage that contains encrypted content is viewing the message through auniversal mail module (e.g., webmail) that does not have securityprotocols that are compatible with an enhanced email service (e.g.,Office 365). In such a case, a web browser running on the recipient'sdevice may have the webmail module open in a first web domain from whichthe link is displayed to provide access to the encrypted content. Then,the encrypted content can be accessed via a webpage in a second webdomain that exposes an authentication module application programminginterface (API) of the intended recipient's mail service, e.g. thesecond domain may expose an OAuth security module that corresponds tothe first domain. The first web domain may be associated with therecipient's mail service (e.g. Gmail™ webmail service, Yahoo® webmailservice) while the second web domain may be associated with the enhancedemail service (e.g., Office 365). Upon a recipient providing credentialsto and receiving a token from the authentication module API, the tokenmay be provided to the enhanced email service. The token can then causethe enhanced email service to locally decrypt the encrypted content onthe server side and display it to the recipient in the form of a webpage.

Now consider a scenario where the recipient of the same messagecontaining the encrypted content and the link is instead viewing themessage through a local mail client that includes enhanced communicationabilities with respect to the enhanced email service in the sense thatthe local mail client is capable of automatically (e.g., without userinteraction) providing an authenticator or token obtained from therecipient's mail service to the enhanced email service. An example of alocal mail client and an enhanced email service having compatiblesecurity protocols (e.g., enhanced communication abilities) can includean Outlook mail client and Office 365 services. In such a case, thelocal mail client may process the message by automatically sending atoken (that is at some point obtained from the recipient's mail service)to the enhanced email service and, in response to verifying the validityof the token, the enhanced email service may provide to the local mailclient a key to enable local decryption of the encrypted content, e.g.decryption by the local mail client. The local mail client may then, byuse of the obtained key, generate a decrypted version of the content andtemporarily store the decrypted content in a volatile cache for seamlessdisplay to the recipient. In other words, the recipient may be able todecrypt the content and view the content without having to performmanual inputs to cause the token and key exchange.

The present disclosure provides a number of variations to theabove-described concepts. For instance, as will be described in moredetail below, a system can include an on-premise mail service incommunication with the enhanced email service to provide the intendedrecipient with decrypted access to encrypted content via the universalmail module without storing the encrypted content on the enhanced mailservice. In yet another example, a system can include an enhanced emailservice that provides decrypted access to encrypted content via theenhanced mail module without storing the encrypted content on theenhanced mail service.

It should be appreciated that the above-described subject matter mayalso be implemented as a computer-controlled apparatus, a computerprocess, a computing system, or as an article of manufacture such as acomputer-readable medium. These and various other features will beapparent from a reading of the following Detailed Description and areview of the associated drawings.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intendedthat this Summary be used to limit the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited toimplementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part ofthis disclosure.

DRAWINGS

The Detailed Description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Thesame reference numbers in different figures indicates similar oridentical items. References made to individual items of a plurality ofitems can use a reference number with a letter of a sequence of lettersto refer to each individual item. Generic references to the items mayuse the specific reference number without the sequence of letters.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example data flow scenario of a system thatincludes an enhanced email service to provide an intended recipient withdecrypted access to encrypted content through a universal mail modulesuch as, for example, a web browser that is accessing a webmail service.

FIG. 2A illustrates aspects of a user interface (UI) that can bedisplayed on a user device in association with the data flow scenario ofFIG. 1 to communicate instructions of how to obtain decrypted access ofthe encrypted content. This UI displays an email message that includes alink to enable the intended recipient to provide credentials associatedwith their email service provider to the enhanced mail service. As withany UI described herein, this example UI can be displayed on a varietyof device types, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobiledevice, a tablet computer, or a combination of devices.

FIG. 2B illustrates aspects of a UI that can be displayed on the userdevice in association with the data flow scenario of FIG. 1 responsiveto the user activating the link displayed in FIG. 2A to expose anauthentication module associated with the recipient's email serviceprovider to the enhanced mail service.

FIG. 2C illustrates aspects of a UI that can be displayed on the userdevice in association with the data flow scenario of FIG. 1 responsiveto the user successfully authenticating herself with respect to theenhanced mail service. As illustrated, the UI may display decryptedcontent to the user via any suitable web-based protocol.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example data flow scenario of a system in whichthe enhanced email service provides the intended recipient withdecrypted access to encrypted content through an enhanced mail module,e.g. a mail module that includes enhanced communication compatibilitieswith respect to the enhanced mail service. As illustrated, the enhancedmail module may provide a token to the enhanced mail service in exchangefor an encryption key that is usable to decrypt the encrypted content.

FIG. 4 illustrates aspects of a UI that can be displayed on the userdevice in association with the data flow scenario of FIG. 3 based on theenhanced mail module obtaining the encryption key to generate adecrypted version of an email message containing encrypted content. Asillustrated, the UI may display the decrypted version of the emailmessage through a universal reading pane view of the enhanced mailmodule.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example data flow scenario of a system thatincludes an enhanced email service to provide an intended recipient witha passcode that is usable to obtain decrypted access to the encryptedcontent of the email message via the universal mail module.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example data flow scenario of a system thatincludes an enhanced email service to provide an intended recipient witha passcode that is usable to obtain decrypted access to the encryptedcontent of the email message via the enhanced mail module.

FIG. 6 illustrates aspects of a UI that can be displayed on the userdevice in association with the data flow scenario of FIG. 5A to enablethe user to cause the enhanced mail service to transmit a passcode tothe intended recipient's mailbox. As illustrated, the UI may provide theuser with options to sign-in with her email service provider (if listed)or request a passcode.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example data flow scenario of a system thatincludes an on-premise mail service in communication with the enhancedemail service to provide an intended recipient with decrypted access toencrypted content that is stored in an organizational mailbox at theenhanced email service.

FIG. 7B illustrates an example data flow scenario of a system thatincludes an on-premise mail service in communication with the enhancedemail service to provide the intended recipient with decrypted access toencrypted content via the universal mail module without storing theencrypted content on the enhanced mail service.

FIG. 7C illustrates an example data flow scenario that is similar tothat of FIG. 7B except where the enhanced email service providesdecrypted access to encrypted content via the enhanced mail modulewithout storing the encrypted content on the enhanced mail service.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example data flow scenario in which the enhancedmail service provides a decrypted version of a message to the recipientmailbox based on the recipient mailbox being associated with apredetermined domain.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process of selecting betweenvarious decryption methods based upon whether decrypted access isrequested by a universal mail module or an enhanced mail module.

FIG. 10 shows additional details of an example computer architecture fora computer capable of executing the enhanced mail service, and/orenhanced mail module, and/or any program components thereof as describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following Detailed Description describes technologies for providingan enhanced email service that mitigates drawbacks associated withconventional email services by, for example, enabling transmission ofencrypted content to an intended recipient regardless of the intendedrecipient having a prior relationship with the sender or having obtainedcredentials from a certificate authority (CA). Generally described,configurations disclosed herein reduce barriers to successfully andconfidently transmitting encrypted message content to any recipientemail address.

According to aspects of the present disclosure, a method is provided forreceiving encrypted content and, based thereon, generating a messagethat designates a recipient email address and includes both theencrypted content as an attachment and a link to enable decrypted accessto the decrypted content. The method may also include transmitting themessage to the intended recipient's mailbox while also storing themessage in an organizational mailbox (and in some instances a sendermailbox as well) to provide for subsequent decryption of the encryptedcontent. The link may be configured to provide the intended recipient ofthe message with decrypted access to the encrypted content in variousways depending on, for example, whether the recipient is viewing themessage through a universal mail module such as, for example a webmailbrowser providing access to a web mail service, or through an enhancedmail module that includes enhanced compatibilities with respect to theenhanced email service (as will be discussed in relation to FIG. 5).

For illustrative purposes, consider with respect to FIG. 1 a firstscenario where the recipient of a message containing encrypted contentis viewing the message through a universal mail module such as, forexample, a webmail service. In such a case, a web browser running on therecipient's device may have a webmail service open in a first domainfrom which the link is displayed within an email message. The link mayprovide access to a webpage in a second domain that exposes anauthentication module application programming interface (API) of theintended recipient's webmail service. The first domain may be associatedwith the recipient's webmail service (e.g. Gmail™ webmail service,Yahoo® webmail service) while the second domain may be associated withthe enhanced email service (e.g., Office 365). Upon a recipientproviding credentials to and receiving a token from the authenticationmodule API, the token may be provided to the enhanced email service inthe second domain to cause the enhanced email service to locally decryptthe encrypted content on the server side and display it to the recipientin the form of a web page. It is with consideration to this firstscenario that the following discussion of FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C is based. Itcan be appreciated any reference to “first,” “second,” etc. items withinthe description is not intended to and should not be construed tonecessarily correspond to any reference of “first,” “second,” etc.elements of the claims. For example, within the specification an itemsuch as domain A of FIG. 1 may be referred to as a “first domain” whilebeing referred to as a “second domain” within the claims depending onthe context.

Turning now to FIG. 1, details will be provided regarding anillustrative operating environment and several software componentsdisclosed herein. FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing aspects of anillustrative system for providing decrypted access to message contentvia a universal mail module such as an online webmail service (Gmail™webmail service) being accessed via a web browser (Chrome™ browser). Thesystem 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes an enhanced mail service 102 capableof receiving, generating, sending, routing, and/or storing emailmessages. The enhanced mail service 102 may be one or more computingdevices such as the example computing device architecture shown in FIG.10 and described in more detail below.

FIG. 1 shows the enhanced mail service 102 receiving content 134 from asender device 104 and, ultimately, transmitting that content 134 to amail service 106 which is addressable by a recipient device 108 toaccess the content 134. In this regard, it should be appreciated thateach of the enhanced mail service 102 and/or the mail service 106 mayrefer to any number of computing devices, working alone or in concert,capable of sending and/or receiving email.

The enhanced mail service 102 may comprise functional componentsincluding, but not limited to, a sender mailbox 110 associated with asender of the content and an organizational mailbox 112 that isconfigured with novel functionalities as described herein for providingan intended recipient of encrypted content with the ability to obtaindecrypted access to that content. It can be appreciated that the sendermailbox 110 may correspond specifically to the sender and may beaccessible based on credentials that uniquely correspond to the sender.For example, the sender mailbox may include data associated with asender email account including but not limited to inbox data associatedwith messages received by the sender email account and outbox dataassociated with messages sent from the sender email account.Furthermore, the sender mailbox may be accessible by the sender uponproviding credentials associated with the sender mailbox and/or anauthenticating token associated with the sender mailbox.

As will be described in more detail below, in various embodiments theorganizational mailbox 112 may be used to store a message containingencrypted content and/or a link to provide decrypted access to theencrypted content 140. Furthermore, in some embodiments, theorganizational mailbox 112 may be accessible through use of a tokenprovided by the mail service 106 to the recipient device 108 and thenultimately provided by the recipient device 108 to the enhanced mailservice 102. In various embodiments, the organizational mailbox 112 maybe inaccessible via use of sender credentials associated with the senderemail account and/or the sender mailbox 110. For example, although asender may take actions that cause a message to be stored in theorganizational mailbox 112, the stored message may reside in theorganizational mailbox 112 for the purpose of providing subsequentaccess to decrypted versions of the encrypted content to therecipient—not for the purpose of subsequent access by the sender. Insome embodiments, the organizational mailbox 112 may store multiplemessages from multiple different senders. For example, theorganizational mailbox may contain a first message that corresponds to afirst sender and is intended to provide decrypted access of encryptedcontent to a first recipient while at the same time containing a secondmessage that corresponds to a second sender and is intended to providedecrypted access of different encrypted content to a second recipient.In some embodiments, the organizational mailbox 112 may correspond to aspecific organization such as, for example, an engineering firm, and theorganizational mailbox 112 may contain multiple messages sent fromvarious members and/or employees of the specific organization.

The enhanced mail service 102 may further include an encryption module114 for encrypting content 134 into encrypted content 140 according toan encryption key, a decryption module 116 for decrypting contentaccording to the encryption key, and a key store 118 for managing accessrights with respect to the encryption key. The encryption module 114 mayinclude any encryption functionality and/or software suitable forencrypting digital content according to an encryption key whethercurrently known or subsequently developed. Similarly, the decryptionmodule 116 may include any decryption functionality and/or softwaresuitable for decrypting encrypted digital content according to anencryption key whether now known or subsequently developed.

The key store 118 may include any functionality and/or software suitablefor managing access rights with respect to encryption keys. In someembodiments, one or more functionalities of the encryption module 114,the decryption module 116, and/or the key store 118 may be performed bya rights management service platform such as, for example, Microsoft'sAzure RMS. Finally, in some configurations, the enhanced mail service102 comprises at least one application programming interface (“API”) 120that exposes an interface through which devices and services describedherein communicate data. Through use of this data interface and otherinterfaces, the devices and services described herein can communicateand process data in such a manner as to enable the functionalitydisclosed herein. For example, as described in detail below, the API 120may enable the enhanced email service 102 to receive an HTTPS request152 containing a token 146 from the recipient device 108 and providedecrypted content 156 via a Web page.

The mail service 106 may comprise functional components including, butnot limited to, an authentication module 122 and a recipient mailbox124. It can be appreciated that the recipient mailbox 124 may correspondspecifically to the recipient and may be accessible based on credentialsthat uniquely correspond to the recipient. For example, the recipientmailbox 124 may include data associated with a recipient email accountof the recipient including but not limited to inbox data associated withmessages received by the recipient email account and outbox dataassociated with messages sent from the recipient email account.Furthermore, the recipient mailbox 124 may be accessible by therecipient upon providing credentials associated with the recipient tothe authentication module 122. For example, in some embodiments therecipient credentials may include each of a username and a passwordwhich the user may provide to the authentication module 122 in exchangefor an authentication token. In some embodiments, the authenticationmodule 122 may be configured to authenticate the recipient based onsingle factor authentication (SFA). For example, the recipient may begiven access to a recipient mailbox corresponding to a specific emailaddress upon providing a single factor of authenticating evidence, e.g.a single password. In some embodiments, the authentication module may beconfigured to authenticate the recipient based on multifactorauthentication (MFA). For example, the recipient may be given access toa recipient mailbox corresponding to the specific email address onlyupon providing multiple factors of authenticating evidence, e.g. apassword in addition to some other piece(s) of authenticating evidence.In some embodiments, the authentication module 122 may further beconfigured to provide cross domain authentication. For example, as willbe described in more detail below, the authentication module 122 mayenable the recipient to authenticate herself with respect to a domainassociated with the enhanced mail service 102 using an authenticationmodule that is operating within a domain associated with the mailservice 106. For example, the authentication module 122 may beconfigured to deploy one or more open standards for user authenticationsuch as, for example, OAuth 1.0 and/or OAuth 2.0. It can be appreciatedthat OAuth is a commonly used mechanism to permit users to shareinformation about accounts with third-party websites and/or to sign intothird-party websites using authentication data associated with accountsother than those hosted by the third-party websites. Statedalternatively, OAuth may provide for cross-domain user authentication.

The sender device 104 may comprise functional components including, butnot limited to, a mail module 126, a browser module 128, and/or anencryption module 114 that is similar to the encryption module describedwith relation to the enhanced mail service 102. The mail module 126 mayinclude any suitable module for generating, receiving, sending, and/orviewing emails. In some embodiments, the mail module 126 may include aweb-based email service being accessed via a standard web-based browser.For example, the mail module 126 may be comprised of a Google™ Chrome™web browser providing access to a Yahoo® webmail account. Accordingly,it can be appreciated that the mail module 126 need not be a dedicatedmail client locally installed at the sender device 104. In someembodiments, the mail module 126 may include a web-based email servicebeing accessed via a mail client that is operated locally on the senderdevice 104. For example, the mail module 126 may be comprised of alocally installed version of Microsoft® Outlook® providing access to aGmail™ webmail account. The browser module 128 may include any programsuitable for retrieving and presenting information resources obtainedfrom the World Wide Web and/or uploading information to resourcesaccessible via the World Wide Web. In various embodiments, the webbrowser 128 may further be used to access information provided by Webservers and private networks or files and file systems.

The recipient device 108 may comprise functional components including,but not limited to, a universal mail module 130 and/or a browser module128 that is similar to the browser module 128 described with relation tothe sender device 104. In some embodiments, the universal mail module130 may include any functional component suitable communicating with theauthentication module 122 of the mail service 106 to authenticate therecipient device with respect to the mail service 106, and ultimately,to provide access to the recipient mailbox 124, e.g. to enable itrecipient to use a corresponding email address. In some embodiments, theuniversal mail module 130 may include a web-based email service beingaccessed via a standard web-based browser. For example, the universalmail module may be comprised of a Google™ Chrome™ web browser providingaccess to a Yahoo® webmail account. As used herein, a universal mailmodule is any email module configured to access one or more emailaccounts but which lacks certain enhanced communication compatibilitieswith respect to the enhanced mail service as described below withrespect to the enhanced mail module. Stated alternatively, a universalmail module is any email module that is not an enhanced mail module asdescribed herein.

With respect to the example data flow scenario of FIG. 1, a sender 132is shown to transmit content 134 from the sender device 104 to theenhanced mail service 102 to provide a recipient 136 with access to thecontent 134 at the recipient device 108. For security purposes, however,it is desirable to transmit the content 134 to the recipient device 108in an encrypted format. Accordingly, the content 134 may be transmittedto the mail service 106 within a message 138 that includes encryptedcontent 140 and a link 142 to provide decrypted access to the encryptedcontent 140.

It can be appreciated that the content 134 can be transmitted to theenhanced email service 120 in a variety of formats. For example, thecontent 134 can be transmitted to the enhanced mail service 102 in anunencrypted format or in an encrypted format. In some embodiments, theenhanced mail service 102 receives the content 134 in an unencryptedformat and, upon receipt, deploys the encryption module 114 to convertthe content 134 into the encrypted content 140 according to anencryption key. The enhanced mail module 102 may then store theencryption key within the key store 118 in association with a recipientemail address of the intended recipient 136. For example, the sender 132may use the mail module 126 on the sender device 104 to generate aninitial message 144 that includes the content 134 in an unencryptedformat and then transmit that initial message 144 to the enhanced mailservice 102. Alternatively, the sender may access a web portal orwebpage associated with the enhanced mail service 102, e.g. via thebrowser module 128, and may upload the content 134 to the enhanced mailservice via the web portal page. In some embodiments, the enhanced mailservice 102 may receive the content 134 in an encrypted format from thesender device 104. For example, the sender 132 may deploy the encryptionmodule 114 on the sender device 104 to encrypt the content 134 togenerate the encrypted content 140 prior to transmitting the content tothe enhanced mail service 102.

Upon receiving the encrypted content 140, the enhanced mail service 102may generate the message 138 that includes the encrypted content 140 andthe link 142 to enable decrypted access to encrypted content 140. Insome embodiments, the encrypted content 140 is included within themessage 138 as an attachment whereas the link 142 can be included withina body of the message 138. The message 138 may then be sent to therecipient mailbox 124 at the mail service 106. For example, the message138 may designate a recipient email address that corresponds to therecipient mailbox 124 and then the enhanced mail service 102 maytransmit the message 138 to the recipient mailbox 124 via one or moreknown email transmission protocols. It can be appreciated then that themessage 138 may then be accessed by the recipient 136 using therecipient device 108 upon authenticating the recipient device 108 withrespect to the mail service 106 using the authentication module 122. Forexample, the recipient 136 may provide user credentials to theauthentication module 122 via the universal mail module 130 which maythen trigger the mail service 106 to provide a token 146 to theuniversal mail module 138.

Upon authentication of the recipient device 108, the mail service 106may then transmit the message 138 to the universal mail module 130 atthe recipient device 108. For example, the message 138 may be sent to aninbox at the universal mail module 130 and may be viewable by therecipient 136 to the extent that the message 138 and/or contents thereofare unencrypted. For example, it can be appreciated that although theencrypted content 140 may now reside on the recipient device 108 it maystill be inaccessible by the recipient 136 due to its encryption.

In addition to transmitting the message 138 to the mail service 106, theenhanced mail service 102 may also store the message 138 in theorganizational mailbox 112 to provide subsequent decrypted access of theencrypted content 140 to the intended recipient 136 via activation ofthe link 142. For example, the link 142 may be displayed within a bodyof the message 138 to enable the recipient 136 to provide the token 146to the enhanced mail service 102 by exposing the authentication module122 of the mail service 106 to the enhanced mail service 102. In someembodiments, the mail service 106 may correspond to a domain A 148whereas the enhanced mail service 102 may correspond to a domain B 150.The link 142 may enable the recipient 136 to re-retrieve the token 146again from the mail service 106 but from within the domain B 150 thatcorresponds enhanced mail service 102. For example, the link 142 may beconfigured to expose one or more APIs of the authentication module 122within the domain B 150 to thereby enable the recipient device 108 tocache the token 146 with respect to the enhanced mail service 102. Itcan be appreciated that retrieving the token 146 from within a browsertab associated domain B 150 may in some instances be desirable asvarious versions of web browsers may cache tokens discreetly withrespect to single web domains. Stated alternatively, although the token146 may have already been received at the recipient device with respectto domain A 148 it may be desirable to re-retrieve the token 146 withina webpage that is backed by the enhanced mail service 102 and with therecipient device is driven to on activation of the link 142 to cause therecipient device and/or a browser operating thereon to cache the token146 with respect to the enhanced mail service 102.

In some embodiments, the universal mail module 130 may generate arequest 152 that includes the token 146 in association with therecipient mailbox 124 and/or a corresponding recipient email address andtransmit the request 152 to the enhanced mail service 102. In someimplementations, the request 152 may be an HTTPS request that istransmitted via the browser module 128. Upon receipt of the request 152,the enhanced mail service 102 may determine whether the token 146 thatis received from the recipient device 108 is authentic respect to therecipient mailbox 124 and/or corresponding email address. If it isdetermined that the token 146 is authentic with respect to the recipientmailbox 124, the enhanced mail service 102 may generate a reply 154 tothe request 152 that includes decrypted content 156, i.e. a decryptedversion of the encrypted content 140. The enhanced mail service 102 mayaccess the message 138 within organizational mailbox 112 and morespecifically may access the encrypted content 140 from within themessage 138 to decrypt it using the decryption module 116. The enhancedmail service 102 may also access the encryption key, that corresponds tothe encrypted content 140, from the key store 118. For example, upongeneration of the encrypted content 140 that is intended for therecipient 136 the enhanced mail service may store an encryption key thatis usable to decrypt the encrypted content 140 within the key store 118in association with a recipient email address and/or the link 142.Accordingly, upon activation of the link 142 at the recipient device 108to generate the request 152 that transmits the token 146 to the enhancedmail service 102, the enhanced mail service may decrypt the encryptedcontent 140 and serve the decrypted content 156 to the recipient device108. For example, the enhanced mail service 102 may provide access to awebpage that displays the decrypted content 156.

It can be appreciated that in the example dataflow scenario of FIG. 1,the encrypted content 140 is decrypted on the server side, i.e. at theenhanced mail service 102, rather than locally at the recipient device108. Accordingly, in various implementations the encrypted content 140may be transmitted to and/or stored on devices which do not ultimatelydecrypt the encrypted content 140. Stated alternatively in the exampledataflow scenario of FIG. 1, the copies of the encrypted content 140that reside on the mail service 106 and the recipient device 108 areultimately not used to provide the decrypted access the encryptedcontent 140. However, as will be described in more detail with respectto FIG. 3, the encrypted content 140 may still be communicated withinthe message 138 to the recipient device 108 to allow users having anenhanced mail client, such as Outlook, to readily decrypt and view theencrypted content.

Turning now to FIG. 2A, aspects of a user interface (UI) 202 areillustrated that can be displayed on the recipient device 108 inassociation with the data flow scenario of FIG. 1. These aspects maycommunicate instructions to the recipient 136 on how to obtain thedecrypted access of the encrypted content 140. UI 202 is displayed inthe form of an email message being viewed through a web browserproviding access to a web-based email service. The illustrated webbrowser has two open tabs with a first tab being open to display theemail message and the second tab that could be displaying any otherwebpage. In this hypothetical scenario, the email message is anelectronic bank statement generated by Bank XYZ and that has been sentto Kat@AcmeEmail.com to provide this recipient with access to theencrypted content 140, e.g. the encrypted bank account statement. Theemail message explains to Kat the purpose of the communication, e.g.that her year-end account statement is ready, and that for securitypurposes she will need to click the illustrated link to login once againusing her Acme email account credentials. It can be appreciated that thelink illustrated which recites “Click Here to read This Message”corresponds to the link 142 discussed with relation to FIG. 1. It canalso be appreciated that the attachment of the email (e.g. asrepresented by the paperclip symbol adjacent to the words “BankStatement for Kat@AcmeEmail.com” corresponds to the encrypted content140 as discussed with relation to FIG. 1.

Turning now to FIG. 2B, upon clicking the link 142 the recipient 136 maybe taken to a webpage displaying a UI 204 that is backed and/or hostedby the enhanced mail service 102 to expose the authentication module 122of the mail service 106 to the enhanced mail service 102. For example,in some implementations clicking the link 142 displayed within the emailmessage of FIG. 2A (i.e. UI 202) may deploy OAuth protocols of the mailservice 106 to enable authentication of the recipient 136 with respectto the enhanced mail service 102. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the webpageenables the recipient 136 to enter credentials associated with therecipient email address that corresponds to recipient mailbox 124. Itcan be appreciated that while user credentials may include a usernameand password combination, any other type of credentials may also beused. For example, in some embodiments recipient 136 may be required toenter a time sensitive code that is sent to a mobile device or read offa security key fob. In the illustrated scenario, the recipient 136 mayenter a username and password combination associated with the Acme emailaccount to authenticate the recipient device 108 with respect to theenhanced mail service 102. Then, once the recipient 136 has successfullysigned in, the enhanced mail service will obtain the encrypted content140 from the organizational mailbox 112 in addition to the correspondingencryption key from the key store 118 to decrypt the encrypted content140. Turning now to FIG. 2C, the decrypted content 156 may then beprovided to the recipient device 108 via the HTTPS reply 154 to generateUI 206. For example, confidential account data associated with therecipient 136 in which the enhanced mail service 102 transmitted to therecipient device 108 in an encrypted format is displayed to therecipient 136 via the web browser module 128. It can be appreciated thatin an implementation in which the universal mail module 130 is a webbrowser providing access to a web based mail service, the universal mailmodule 130 may simply correspond to the “Acme Mail Tab” and the reply154 may correspond to another tab that is caused to open uponauthentication of the recipient device 108.

With respect to each of FIGS. 2B and 2C, for example, it can beappreciated that in various implementations webpages that are backed bythe enhanced mail service 102 may be customized with visualcharacteristics corresponding to the sender of the message 138. Forexample, as illustrated the sender of the message 138 is the bankingentity Bank XYZ which may desire to include logos and/or businessslogans as additional visual cues to the recipient 136 as to the sourceof the message 138. Further, despite being backed and/or hosted by theenhanced mail service 102 that is managed by another business entity,the webpage may be configured to display a web address associated with adomain name corresponding to the sender 132 and not by a domainassociated with the business entity hosting the enhanced mail service102. For example, as illustrated the webpage address is indicated to be“https://e-statements.BankXYZ.com/securemessaging/authenticator-portal”within the address bar. In addition, the logos and text in the webpagemay further be configured to cause the tab name and other text to bedisplayed as “E-Statements: Bank XYZ” and not displayed the businessentity hosting the enhanced mail service 102. Accordingly, it can beappreciated that the enhanced mail service 102 may enable the sender 132to customize various aspects of a webpage to be displayed upon therecipient 136 activating the link 142.

As a recap to the dataflow scenario of FIG. 1, the enhanced mail service102 may receive encrypted content 140 that is encrypted according to anencryption key and may then generate a message that includes theencrypted content 140 as an attachment and also a link 142. The message138 may then be stored in each of a sender mailbox 110 and anorganizational mailbox 112. Although the sender mailbox 110 may beaccessible based on sender credentials, in some embodiments, theorganizational mailbox 112 cannot be accessed by the sender 132whatsoever. Rather, in some configurations, the organizational mailbox112 is configured to provide decrypted access of the encrypted contentto the recipient 136 by the use of a token or by use of a passcode. Forexample, the organizational mailbox 112 may be accessible based uponrecipient of a token associated with credentials, e.g., an email of therecipient. The message 138 may also be sent to the recipient mailbox 124and ultimately to the recipient device 108. The recipient 136 may thenuse to click the link 142 for the purpose of transmitting an HTTPSrequest 152 to the enhanced mail service 102. A token 146 that isprovided with the HTTPS request 152 may serve as proof to the enhancedmail service 102 that the originator of the request 152 is the intendedrecipient 136 of the message 138. Then, the enhanced mail service maydecrypt the encrypted content 140 and send it to the recipient device108 in a format that is viewable via a web browser. Furthermore, in thisparticular dataflow scenario, the encrypted content 140 that thatresides on the user device 108 within the message 138 is not ultimatelyused to provide the decrypted access to the content 134—rather the copyof the content 140 that is stored at the organizational mailbox 112provides decrypted access.

In some implementations, however, the copy of the encrypted content 140that is transmitted to the recipient device 108 is used to provide thedecrypted access to the encrypted content 140. For illustrativepurposes, consider, with respect to FIG. 3, a second scenario where therecipient of the message 138 containing the encrypted content 140 isviewing the message 138 through an enhanced mail module 302 that isconfigured with enhanced communication capabilities with respect to theenhanced mail service 102. For example, the enhanced mail module 302 maybe the Outlook client program and the enhanced mail service 102 may beOffice 365. In some configurations, the enhanced mail module 302 may beconfigured to store recipient credentials, e.g. a username and passwordcombination, and automatically authenticate the recipient device 108respect to the mail service 106 as needed. In such a case, the enhancedmail module 302 may be configured to automatically authenticate therecipient device 108 with the enhanced mail service 102 by sending arequest to the enhanced mail service 102 that includes the token 146.The request may be for an encryption key corresponding to encryptedcontent attached to a particular message. In some embodiments, therequest that includes the token 146 may be a get key request that causesthe enhanced mail service 102 to reply by sending the encryption key 312that corresponds to the encrypted content to the enhanced mail module.At the recipient device 108, the encryption key 312 is then deployed tothe decryption module 306 to decrypt the encrypted content 140 togenerate decrypted content 156 and automatically display the decryptedcontent 156 on a display device to the recipient 136.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, the decrypted content is stored on avolatile cache to prevent sensitive materials, e.g. the decryptedcontent, from being permanently stored on the device. It can beappreciated that in such an embodiment the copy of the encrypted content140 that resides on the recipient device 108 is used to provide thedecrypted access to the content to the recipient. It is withconsideration to this first scenario that the following discussion ofFIGS. 3-4 is based.

Turning now to FIG. 3, an example data flow scenario is illustrated of asystem 300 in which the enhanced email service 102 provides the intendedrecipient 136 with decrypted access to encrypted content 140 through anenhanced mail module 302. In various embodiments, the enhanced mailmodule 302 may be configured to store recipient credentials 304, whichare usable by the enhanced mail module 302 to transmit token requests tothe mail service 106. For example, the enhanced mail module 302 may be alocally operated mail client configured to accept user credentials suchas an email address and password combination from the recipient 136. Theenhanced mail module 302 can automatically perform any necessaryauthentication protocols with the mail service 106 and the enhanced mailmodule 302. The enhanced mail module 302 may also include a decryptionmodule 306 configured to decrypt encrypted content according to anencryption key. The enhanced mail module 302 may also include a volatilecache 308 for storing a version of the message 138 that includes thedecrypted content 156.

It can be appreciated that numerous aspects of this example dataflowscenario are similar to that illustrated with respect FIG. 1. However,there are differences with respect to the communication between theenhanced mail module 302 and the enhanced mail service 102. Inparticular, as illustrated, the enhanced mail module 302 may transmit aget key request 310 that contains the token 146 to obtain the encryptionkey 312 that corresponds to the encrypted content 140. Upon receipt ofthe encryption key 312, the enhanced mail module 302 may generate arendering of the message 138 that automatically displays the decryptedcontent 156 to the recipient without manual user interaction.Accordingly, it can be appreciated that by deploying the enhanced mailmodule 302 as opposed to the universal mail module 130 the recipient 136may obtain better (e.g. more seamless) user experience with respect toobtaining the decrypted access to the content.

As illustrated, the sender 132 may transmit content 134 to the enhancedmail service 102 which may then generate encrypted content 140 bydeploying the encryption module 114 to generate the message 138 thatincludes the encrypted content and the link 142. The enhanced mailservice 102 may store copies of the message 138 in each of a sendermailbox 110 and the organizational mailbox 112. The message 138 is sentto the recipient mailbox 124 that is accessed by the enhanced mailmodule 302 to receive a local copy of the message 138. In someembodiments, the enhanced mail module 302 may be configured to recognizeone or more characteristics of the message 138 and respond to suchcharacteristics by automatically obtaining the key 312. For example, theenhanced mail module 302 may recognize and/or activate the link 142 togenerate the get key request 310 to transmit the token 146 to theenhanced mail service 102. Upon receipt of the get key request 310,which may uniquely identify the message 138 to enable the enhanced mailservice 102 to authenticate the token 146 with respect to the message138, the enhanced mail service 102 may access the key store 118 toretrieve the encryption key 312 corresponding to the encrypted content140. The enhanced mail service 102 may then transmit the encryption key312 to the enhanced mail module 302 and/or the decryption module 306thereof. Upon receipt of the encryption key 312, the decryption module312 may decrypt the copy of the encrypted content 140 that has been sentto the recipient device 108 to locally generate the version of themessage 138 containing the decrypted content 156. In some embodiments,the decrypted content 156 may be stored temporarily in the volatilecache 308 so that the decrypted content 156 does not permanently remainon the recipient device 108.

In some embodiments, the enhanced mail module 302 may automaticallygenerate a token request 314 based on stored recipient credentials 304in response to one or more actions, such as the execution of theenhanced mail module 302 on the recipient device 108. For example, theenhanced mail module 302 may be configured to automatically communicatewith the authentication module 122 at the mail service 122 when a userexecutes the enhanced mail module 302 on the recipient device 108. Itcan be appreciated that certain existing mail modules can include suchfunctionality. Such as, for example, Microsoft® Outlook® desktop versionas well other suitable native mobile device email clients. As the token146 may be automatically retrieved and stored at the enhanced mailmodule 302, in various embodiments, it may not be necessary for theenhanced mail client 302 to re-retrieve the token 146 from theauthentication module in order to generate the get key request 310.

In some embodiments, the enhanced mail module 302 may be configured toprevent messages that are stored within the volatile cache 308 fromhaving various actions performed with respect thereto. For example, theenhanced mail module 302 may deny requests to forward and/or storeand/or print the version of the message 138 containing the decryptedcontent 156. Furthermore, in some configurations, the system can beconfigured such that, even if it the recipient 136 were to forward themessage 138 to a subsequent recipient, the subsequent recipient of thatmessage would be denied access to view the decrypted content 156.

It can be appreciated that in the example dataflow scenario of FIG. 3,the encrypted content is decrypted on the device side, i.e. at therecipient device 108, rather than remotely at the enhanced mail service102. Accordingly, the same message 138 which caused the enhanced mailservice 102 to transmit decrypted content 156 to the recipient device108 when viewed through the universal mail module 130 may cause theenhanced mail service 102 to transmit an encryption key 312 to theenhanced mail module 302 to perform local decryption.

Turning now to FIG. 4, aspects of a UI 400 are illustrated that can bedisplayed on the recipient device 108 in association with the data flowscenario of FIG. 3. These illustrations are based on the enhanced mailmodule 302 obtaining the encryption key 312 to generate the decryptedcontent 156, which may be displayed within the message. As illustrated,the UI 400 may display the decrypted content 156 in the message 138through a universal reading pane view of the enhanced mail module 302.In some embodiments, the message 138 displaying the decrypted content156 may be automatically generated and displayed by the enhanced mailmodule 302 upon the recipient 136 selecting the message 138 from withina list of messages associated with an inbox of the recipient mailbox124. For example, the recipient 136 may use a cursor 402 double-clickthe message within an inbox view of the enhanced mail module 302. Insome embodiments, the message 138 containing the decrypted content 156may be automatically deleted from the volatile cache 308 upon the userselecting a different message from the inbox.

Turning now to FIGS. 5A-5B, in some scenarios, a mail service associatedwith the recipient mailbox 124 may lack certain authenticationcapabilities. For example, a mail service may lack the ability togenerate tokens to enable the enhanced mail service 102 to authenticatethe recipient device 108 with respect to the recipient mailbox 124. Insuch examples, various mail service providers may lack authenticationmodule 122 which produces authenticating tokens that enable a recipientto authenticate herself with respect the enhanced mail service, e.g.prove to the enhanced mail service that she is the intended recipient.Accordingly, in some dataflow scenarios a passcode may be used in placeof the token.

With respect to FIG. 5A, in some embodiments, the recipient mailbox 124may be hosted by mail service 502 that does not generate authenticatingtokens that are described above. It can be appreciated that FIG. 5A issimilar to FIG. 1 with the exception that a passcode 504 is utilized. Apasscode can be generated at the enhanced mail service 102 andcommunicated to the mail service 502 in a passcode message 508. Inaddition, the passcode 504 can be sent to the enhanced mail service 102within a request 152. The function of the passcode 504 is similar to thefunction of the token 146.

In one illustrative example, as shown in the dataflow scenario of FIG.5A, the universal mail module 130 is used to access recipient mailbox124 from the mail service 502 to receive the message 138. The universalmail module 130 and/or the browser module 128 may be used to transmit apasscode 504 to the enhanced mail service 102. In some embodiments, thelink 142 may be further configured to enable the recipient 136 to causethe recipient device 108 generate a passcode request 506. The passcoderequest 506 is then sent to the enhanced mail service 102 to cause theenhanced mail service to generate a passcode message 508 fortransmission to the recipient mailbox 124. For example, the passcoderequest 506 may cause the key store 118 to generate a single use and/ortime limited passcode which the recipient 136 may redeem to obtaindecrypted access encrypted content 140. The universal mail module 134may retrieve the passcode message 508 from the mail service 502 anddisplay the passcode message 508 in line with the message 138 within auser inbox view of the universal mail module 134. The passcode message508 may communicate the passcode 504 to the recipient 136 and/oruniversal mail module 134 to enable generation of the request 152. Forexample, the recipient 136 may be prompted to enter the passcode 504into a field of graphical UI to generate the request 152. Alternatively,the passcode message 508 may include a link that automatically generatesthe HTTPS request 152 including the passcode 504. Upon receipt of thepasscode 504 within the request 152, the enhanced mail service 102 maytransmit the reply 154 including the decrypted content 156 in a similarmanner as described with relation to FIG. 1.

Turning now to FIG. 5B, it can be appreciated that FIG. 5B is similar toFIG. 3 with the exception that the passcode 504 is sent to the enhancedmail service 102 within the get key request 310 rather than the token146. FIG. 5B is similar to FIG. 5A with the exception that the recipientdevice 108 is executing an enhanced mail module 302 (e.g., Outlook) thatis compatible with the enhanced mail service 102 (e.g., Office 365). Forexample, in the dataflow scenario of FIG. 5B, the enhanced mail module302 is used to access recipient mailbox 124 from the mail service 502 toreceive the message 138 and then either the enhanced new module 302and/or the browser module 128 may be used to transmit a passcode 504 tothe enhanced mail service. In some embodiments, the enhanced mail module302 may be configured to automatically generate the passcode request 506based on the message 138 and/or the link 142. For example, upon receiptof the message 138 the enhanced mail module 302 may identify and/oractivate the link 142 to generate and transmit the passcode request 506.In some embodiments, the enhanced mail module 302 may be configured toautomatically generate the get key request 310 including the passcode504 based on the passcode message 508. For example, the enhanced mailmodule 302 may be configured to extract the passcode 504 from thepasscode message 508 to generate the get key request 310. Furthermore,upon receipt of the key 312 in response to the get key request 310, theenhanced mail module 302 may be configured to automatically generate amessage 138 containing the decrypted content 156 and store it in thevolatile cache 308.

In various embodiments, one or more of the foregoing functionalitiesdescribed with relation to the passcode message 508 and the enhancedmail module 302 may be triggered upon the user selecting the message138. For example, upon the recipient 136 selecting the message 138 theenhanced mail module 302 may automatically generate and transmit thepasscode request 506 and wait for the passcode message 508. Then uponreceipt of the passcode message 508 the enhanced mail module may extractthe passcode 504 to generate the get key request 310 to ultimatelyreceive the encryption key 312 and generate the message 138 containingthe decrypted content 156.

Turning now to FIG. 6, aspects are illustrated of a UI 600 that can bedisplayed on the recipient device 108 in association with the data flowscenario of FIG. 5A to enable the recipient 136 to cause the enhancedmail service 102 to transmit a passcode 504. As illustrated, the UI 600may provide the recipient 136 with options to sign-in with her emailservice provider if listed or to request a passcode. In someembodiments, the enhanced mail service 102 may be configured torecognize a domain associated with a recipient email address todetermine whether to generate the UI 600 as opposed to UI 204. Forexample, if the recipient email address corresponds to a domain that isknown to be hosted by mail service 106 which is known to have thecapability of generating the token 146, the enhanced mail service 102may choose to display the UI 204. As a specific example, the enhancedmail service 102 may be configured to display UI 204 for email addressesassociated with certain domains (e.g. Gmail™ webmail service and/orYahoo® webmail service) as these domains may be known to deploy OAuthprotocols. Furthermore, if the recipient email address corresponds to adomain that is known to not have certain authentication capabilities,e.g. is known to not deploy OAuth, then activation of the link 142automatically generate the passcode request 506 or may provide therecipient with only one option, e.g. to request a passcode.Alternatively, if the enhanced mail service 102 cannot tell from therecipient email address whether the corresponding mail service supportsOAuth protocols, then the UI 600 may be displayed upon activation of thelink 142. For example, many email addresses correspond to a domain of abusiness website from which it is not readily determinable which emailservice provider hosts the recipient mailbox 124. As illustrated, insuch a scenario the UI 600 may provide various options to the recipient136 of how to obtain decrypted access of the encrypted content 140. Afirst such option may be to sign in with service provider that hosts therecipient mailbox 124. For example, although the enhanced mail service102 may be unable to determine whether the email address of“Kat@domainABC.com” is hosted by Acme email services which supports acertain security protocol such as OAuth, the recipient 136 may beprovided the option to “Sign in using Acme.” Upon clicking “Sign inusing Acme,” the enhanced mail service 102 may deploy UI 204. A secondsuch option may be to generate the past request 506 for selecting thelink entitled “Send Me a Passcode.”

Turning now to FIG. 7A, an example data flow scenario is illustrated ofa system 700 that includes an on-premise mail service 702 incommunication with the enhanced email service 102 to provide therecipient 136 with decrypted access to the encrypted content 140 that isstored in the organizational mailbox 112 at the enhanced email service102. In some embodiments, the sender may transmit content 134 to theon-premise mail service 702. The on-premise mail service 702 may deployencryption module 114 to encrypt the content 134 to generate theencrypted content 140. The on-premise mail service 702 may generate amessage 704 that includes the encrypted content 140 and may transmit themessage 704 to the enhanced mail service 102. The enhanced mail service102 may then create the message 138 that includes the encrypted content140 and the link 142 based upon the message 704. It can be appreciatedthat the system 700 is similar to the systems 100, 300, and 500 with theexception that the sender mailbox 110 is not stored on the enhanced mailservice 102 in the system 700. Accordingly, any flows of data betweenone or more of the enhanced mail service 102, the mail service 106, themail service 502, and/or the recipient device 108 described herein withrelation to one or more of systems 100, 300, and/or 500 may equallyapply to system 700. In particular, the recipient device 108 of FIG. 7may deploy the universal mail module 130 or the enhanced mail module 302to communicate with the enhanced mail service 102 and ultimately toobtain decrypted access of the encrypted content 140.

In some embodiments, the recipient device 108 may transmit to theenhanced mail service 102 decryption parameters 706 associated with anability of the recipient device 108 to decrypt content locally. Forexample, the decryption parameters 706 may indicate whether therecipient device 108 includes decryption module 116. Then, based on thedecryption parameters 706, the enhanced mail service 102 may determinewhether to send an encryption key to the recipient device or to decryptthe encrypted content at the server-side and transmit decrypted contentto the recipient device 108. In some embodiments, in which the universalmail module 130 and or the recipient device 108 includes decryptioncapabilities, the decryption parameters 706 may cause enhanced mailservice 102 to transmit a key 712 rather than decrypted content 156.

In some embodiments, the enhanced mail service 102 may be configured toerase the message 138 from the organizational mailbox 112 upon providingrecipient device with the decrypted access to the message 138. Forexample, the enhanced mail service 102 may provide to the message 138only a single time and/or only a predetermined number of times and/oronly for a predetermined window of time.

Turning now to FIG. 7B, an example data flow scenario is illustrated ofa system 720 that includes an on-premise mail service 702 incommunication with the enhanced email service 102 to provide theintended recipient 136 with decrypted access to encrypted content 140via the universal mail module 130 without storing the encrypted content140 on the enhanced mail service 102. In system 720, the enhanced mailservice 102 may be configured with a data pipe 722 to route the message704 through the enhanced mail service 102 to the recipient mailbox 124without storing the message 704 at the enhanced mail service 102. Forexample, the enhanced mail service 102 may be configured to delete themessage 138 subsequent to sending the message 138 recipient mailbox 124so that a copy of the message 138 is not stored by the enhanced mailservice 102 upon receiving a request for decrypted access and/or a token146 from the recipient device 108. The recipient device 108 may thendeploy the universal mail module 130 to receive a copy of the message704.

In such embodiments, in order to obtain access to the decrypted content156, the universal mail module 130 may generate an HTTPS request 724that is similar to the HTTPS request 152 except that it includes theencrypted content 140 in addition to the token 146 and/or the passcode504. Transmitting the encrypted content 140 back to the enhanced mailservice 102 may be desirable in embodiments where the encrypted contentis not stored locally at the enhanced mail service 102, e.g. inimplementations lacking the organizational mailbox 112. Uponauthenticating the recipient device 108 with respect to the recipientmailbox 124, the enhanced mail service 102 may decrypt the encryptedcontent 140 to generate decrypted content 156 that is sent to therecipient device 108 within the HTTPS reply 154. The decrypted content156 can be displayed on a web browser.

Turning now to FIG. 7C, an example data flow scenario is illustrated ofsystem 740 that is that similar to that of FIG. 7B except where theenhanced email service 102 provides the recipient 136 with decryptedaccess to encrypted content 140 via the enhanced mail module 302 (e.g.,Outlook) without storing the encrypted content 140 at the enhanced emailservice 102. As shown, in some embodiments the enhanced email service102 does not contain an organizational mailbox. As illustrated in FIG.7C, the enhanced mail module 302 may generate a get key request 310including the token 146 in a similar manner as described with relationto FIG. 3. It can be appreciated that systems 720 and 740 are similar tothe systems 100, 300, and 500 with the exception that the organizationalmailbox 112 is not used to store the message 138 and/or the content 140on the enhanced mail service 102 in systems 720 and 740. Accordingly,any flows of data between one or more of the enhanced mail service 102,the mail service 106, the mail service 502, and/or the recipient device108 described herein with relation to one or more of systems 100, 300,and/or 500 may equally apply to systems 720 and/or 740. The maindistinction between these systems is that when the encrypted content 140is not stored on the enhanced mail service 102, the enhanced mailservice 102 is to be used to decrypt the encrypted content 140 only whenthe encrypted content 140 is sent back to the enhanced mail service 102with a token from the recipient device 108.

Turning now to FIG. 8, an example data flow scenario is illustrated of asystem 800 in which the enhanced mail service 102 provides a version ofthe message 138 containing the decrypted content 156 to the recipientmailbox 124 based on the recipient mailbox 124 being associated with apredetermined domain 802 that corresponds to predetermined domains data804 stored at the enhanced mail service 102. In some embodiments, thepredetermined domains data 804 may list a plurality of domains that areassociated with the enhanced mail service 102. For example,predetermined domain 802 may include a mail service 806 that isassociated with or backed by enhanced mail service 102. In someembodiments, the mail service 806 may be configured to follow variousrules with respect to the message 138 containing, and configured todisplay, the decrypted content 156. Exemplary such rules include, butare not limited to, permissions associated with forwarding the versionof the message 138 containing the decrypted content 156. Accordingly,upon the recipient 136 attempting to send a forwarded message 808 thatmay be a forwarded copy of the version of the message 138 containing thedecrypted content 156 the mail service 806 may refrain from forwardingthe message as requested by the recipient 136. In some embodiments, theenhanced mail service 102 may be configured to receive transmissionrestriction data associated with particular content and/or a particularorganization and to permit and/or deny requests for actions associatedwith the version of the message 138 containing the decrypted content 156based upon the transmission restriction data. For example, thetransmission restriction data may permit and/or restrict the recipient136 from forwarding and/or saving and/or printing the version of themessage 138 containing the decrypted content 156.

In some embodiments, the mail service 806 may be an all or in parthosted by the enhanced mail service 102. For example, the enhanced mailservice 102 may be deployed to host mailboxes associated with businessowned domains such that the mail service 806 is a sub part of theenhanced mail service 102 that is configured to provide“username@yourbusinessdomainhere.com” type email addresses. As aspecific example, the enhanced mail service 102 may correspond to anemail service provided Microsoft Office 365 and the mail service 806 maybe associated with and/or also hosted by Microsoft Office 365 to hostthe recipient mailbox associated with the hypothetical email address“Kat@EngineeringFirm.com” where EnginerringFirm.com is a domain owned byKat's employer. In some embodiments, the enhanced mail service 102 maybe configured to determine whether it hosts or is otherwise associatedwith the recipient mailbox 124. Then, based on a determination that theenhanced mail service 102 does host or is associated with the recipientmailbox 124, the enhanced mail service 102 may choose to send anunencrypted version of the content 134 to the recipient mailbox 124. Forexample, the enhanced mail service 102 may choose to transmit themessage 138 displaying the decrypted content 156 directly to therecipient mailbox 134. In contrast, a determination that the enhancedmail service 102 does not host the recipient mailbox 124 may cause theenhanced mail service to refrain from transmitting unencrypted contentto the recipient mailbox 124 but rather to provide the decrypted accessas described with respect to, for example, FIGS. 1 & 3.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process 900 of selectingbetween various decryption methods based upon whether decrypted accessis requested by a universal mail module or an enhanced mail module. Theprocess 900 is described with reference to FIGS. 1-8. The process 900 isillustrated as a collection of blocks in a logical flow graph, whichrepresent a sequence of operations that can be implemented in hardware,software, or a combination thereof. In the context of software, theblocks represent computer-executable instructions that, when executed byone or more processors, perform the recited operations. Generally,computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, and the like that perform or implementparticular functions. The order in which operations are described is notintended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of thedescribed blocks can be combined in any order and/or in parallel toimplement the process.

At block 901, a system may receive encrypted content that is configuredaccording to an encryption key. In some implementations, the encryptedcontent may be received from a sender device having been alreadyencrypted. For example, a sender device may include an encryption moduleand a sender may cause the encryption module to encrypt contentaccording to the encryption key to generate the encrypted content. Then,the sender device may transmit the encrypted content a long with theencryption key to the enhanced mail service. In some implementations,the encrypted content may be encrypted by an encryption module at theenhanced mail service. For example, a sender device may transmit thecontent in an unencrypted format to the enhanced mail service. Then, theenhanced mail service may deploy the encryption module to encrypt thereceived content according to an encryption key. In someimplementations, the enhanced mail service may store the encryption keyin a key store.

At block 903, the system may generate a message that includes theencrypted content and a link to enable decrypted access to the encryptedcontent. In some implementations, the message may be an email messagethat includes the encrypted content as an email attachment and furtherincludes the link within a message body of the email message. Forexample, the encrypted content may come in the form of an encrypted filethat is attached to an email message. The message may further designatea recipient email address to enable transmission of the message to therecipient mailbox via one or more standard email transmission protocols.

At block 905, the system may transmit the message to an intendedrecipient's mailbox. In some implementations, the recipient mailbox maybe operated by a recipient mail service that provides access to therecipient mailbox upon the intended recipient providing recipientcredentials that are associated with the recipient email address. Forexample, the intended recipient may provide her recipient credentials tothe recipient mail service via a web browser portal and, in return, therecipient mail service may serve back an HTTPS webpage to provide accessto the recipient mailbox.

At block 907, the system may receive a request that includes a tokenand/or the passcode associated with the recipient's mailbox. Forexample, as discussed with relation to FIG. 1, the recipient device maytransmit an HTTPS request that contains the token to the enhanced mailservice from a universal mail module. As another example, as discussedwith relation to FIG. 5A, the recipient device may transmit to theenhanced mail service an HTTPS request that contains a passcode receivedvia a passcode message sent in response to a passcode request. As yetanother example, as discussed with relation to FIGS. 3 and 5B, therecipient device may transmit from an enhanced mail module a get keyrequest that includes the token and/or a passcode that is received via apasscode message.

Upon receiving a request that includes the token and/or the passcodeand, ultimately, authenticating the token and/or passcode with respectto the recipient's mailbox, the system may then proceed to decisionblocks 909 and/or 917.

At block 909, the system may determine whether the token and/or passcodehas been received from a universal mail module.

If the system determines that the token and/or passcode has beenreceived from universal mail module, the process 900 may proceed fromblock 909 to block 911 at which the system may obtain access a key storeto obtain an encryption key that corresponds to the encrypted content.Then, at block 913 the system may deploy a decryption module and theencryption key to decrypt the encrypted content into correspondingdecrypted content. Ultimately, the system may generate a reply messagefor transmission to the universal mail module that includes thedecrypted content.

At block 915, the system may transmit to the recipient device the replymessage that includes the decrypted content. In some implementations,the reply message may be transmitted to the recipient device via anHTTPS reply that includes the decrypted content. The HTTPS reply may bein an encrypted format that is configured to be displayed via a secureweb browser module.

If the system determines that the token and/or passcode has not beenreceived from a universal mail module, the process 900 may from block909 to block 917 at which the system may determine whether the tokenand/or passcode has been received from an enhanced mail module. If thetoken and/or passcode has been received from an enhanced mail module,the process 900 may proceed from block 917 to block 911(D) which is aduplicate of block 911. In particular, at block 911(D), the system mayobtain access to a key store to obtain the encryption key thatcorresponds to the encrypted content. Ultimately, the system maygenerate a reply message for transmission to the enhanced mail modulethat includes the encryption key.

Then, at block 919, the system may transmit to the recipient device thereply message that includes the encryption key to enable the enhancedmail module to locally decrypt the encrypted content.

As indicated by block 921, in the event that the system receives a tokenand/or passcode associated with the recipient mailbox but determinesthat the token and/or passcode has not been received from either of theuniversal mail module and or the enhanced mail module the process 900may terminate without the system transmitting either the encryption keyor the decrypted content.

FIG. 10 shows additional details of an example computer architecture 900for a computer capable of executing the enhanced mail service 102,and/or enhanced mail module 302, and/or any program components thereofas described herein. Thus, the computer architecture 900 illustrated inFIG. 10 illustrates an architecture for a server computer, or network ofserver computers, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a smart phone, or any other types of computing devicessuitable for implementing the functionality described herein. Thecomputer architecture 900 may be utilized to execute any aspects of thesoftware components presented herein.

The computer architecture 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10 includes a centralprocessing unit 1002 (“CPU”), a system memory 1004, including arandom-access memory 1006 (“RAM”) and a read-only memory (“ROM”) 1008,and a system bus 1010 that couples the memory 1004 to the CPU 1002. Abasic input/output system containing the basic routines that help totransfer information between elements within the computer architecture1000, such as during startup, is stored in the ROM 1008. The computerarchitecture 1000 further includes a mass storage device 1012 forstoring an operating system 1014, other data, and one or moreapplication programs. The mass storage device 1012 may further includeone or more of the enhanced mail service 102, and/or enhanced mailmodule 302.

The mass storage device 1012 is connected to the CPU 1002 through a massstorage controller (not shown) connected to the bus 1010. The massstorage device 1012 and its associated computer-readable media providenon-volatile storage for the computer architecture 1000. Although thedescription of computer-readable media contained herein refers to a massstorage device, such as a solid-state drive, a hard disk or CD-ROMdrive, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatcomputer-readable media can be any available computer storage media orcommunication media that can be accessed by the computer architecture1000.

Communication media includes computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signalsuch as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes anydelivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that hasone or more of its characteristics changed or set in a manner as toencode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer storage media mayinclude volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage of information suchas computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. For example, computer media includes, but is not limited to,RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), HD-DVD, BLU-RAY, orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed bythe computer architecture 1000. For purposes the claims, the phrase“computer storage medium,” “computer-readable storage medium” andvariations thereof, does not include waves, signals, and/or othertransitory and/or intangible communication media, per se.

According to various configurations, the computer architecture 1000 mayoperate in a networked environment using logical connections to remotecomputers through a network 1050 and/or another network (not shown). Thecomputer architecture 1000 may connect to the network 1050 through anetwork interface unit 1016 connected to the bus 1010. It should beappreciated that the network interface unit 1016 also may be utilized toconnect to other types of networks and remote computer systems. Thecomputer architecture 1000 also may include an input/output controller1018 for receiving and processing input from a number of other devices,including a keyboard, mouse, or electronic stylus (not shown in FIG.10). Similarly, the input/output controller 1018 may provide output to adisplay screen, a printer, or other type of output device (also notshown in FIG. 10). It should also be appreciated that via a connectionto the network 1050 through a network interface unit 1016, the commutingarchitecture may enable enhanced communication service 102 tocommunicate with one or more of the sender device 104, the on-premisemail service 702, the mail service 106, the mail service 502, and/or therecipient mail device 108. It should also be appreciated that via aconnection to the network 1050 through a network interface unit 1016,the commuting architecture may enable enhanced email module 302 tocommunicate with one or more of the sender device 104, the on-premisemail service 702, the enhanced mail service 102, the mail service 106,and/or the mail service 502.

It should be appreciated that the software components described hereinmay, when loaded into the CPU 1002 and executed, transform the CPU 1002and the overall computer architecture 1000 from a general-purposecomputing system into a special-purpose computing system customized tofacilitate the functionality presented herein. The CPU 1002 may beconstructed from any number of transistors or other discrete circuitelements, which may individually or collectively assume any number ofstates. More specifically, the CPU 1002 may operate as a finite-statemachine, in response to executable instructions contained within thesoftware modules disclosed herein. These computer-executableinstructions may transform the CPU 1002 by specifying how the CPU 1002transitions between states, thereby transforming the transistors orother discrete hardware elements constituting the CPU 1002.

Encoding the software modules presented herein also may transform thephysical structure of the computer-readable media presented herein. Thespecific transformation of physical structure may depend on variousfactors, in different implementations of this description. Examples ofsuch factors may include, but are not limited to, the technology used toimplement the computer-readable media, whether the computer-readablemedia is characterized as primary or secondary storage, and the like.For example, if the computer-readable media is implemented assemiconductor-based memory, the software disclosed herein may be encodedon the computer-readable media by transforming the physical state of thesemiconductor memory. For example, the software may transform the stateof transistors, capacitors, or other discrete circuit elementsconstituting the semiconductor memory. The software also may transformthe physical state of such components in order to store data thereupon.

As another example, the computer-readable media disclosed herein may beimplemented using magnetic or optical technology. In suchimplementations, the software presented herein may transform thephysical state of magnetic or optical media, when the software isencoded therein. These transformations may include altering the magneticcharacteristics of particular locations within given magnetic media.These transformations also may include altering the physical features orcharacteristics of particular locations within given optical media, tochange the optical characteristics of those locations. Othertransformations of physical media are possible without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoingexamples provided only to facilitate this discussion.

In light of the above, it should be appreciated that many types ofphysical transformations take place in the computer architecture 1000 inorder to store and execute the software components presented herein. Italso should be appreciated that the computer architecture 1000 mayinclude other types of computing devices, including hand-held computers,embedded computer systems, personal digital assistants, and other typesof computing devices known to those skilled in the art. It is alsocontemplated that the computer architecture 1000 may not include all ofthe components shown in FIG. 10, may include other components that arenot explicitly shown in FIG. 10, or may utilize an architecturecompletely different than that shown in FIG. 10.

Example Clauses

The disclosure presented herein may be considered in view of thefollowing clauses.

Example Clause A, a computer-implemented method for providing anenhanced email service, the method comprising: receiving encryptedcontent that is configured according to an encryption key; generating amessage that designates a recipient email address, wherein the messageincludes at least the encrypted content as an attachment, and a link toenable decryption of the encrypted content based on the encryption key;sending the message to a recipient mailbox operated by a recipient mailservice, the recipient mailbox accessible based on recipient credentialsassociated with the recipient email address; storing, by the enhancedemail service, at least one of the message or an unencrypted version ofthe message in a sender mailbox that corresponds to a sender emailaddress, the sender mailbox accessible based on sender credentialsassociated with the sender email address; and storing, by the enhancedemail service, the message in an organizational mailbox, theorganizational mailbox being addressable from a recipient device by useof the link, wherein the organizational mailbox is not accessible basedon the sender credentials.

Example Clause B, the computer-implemented method of Example Clause A,wherein the organizational mailbox and the sender mailbox are hosted bythe enhanced email service in a first domain, and wherein the recipientmailbox is hosted by the recipient mail service in a second domain.

Example Clause C, the computer-implemented method of any of ExampleClauses A through B, wherein the link is configured to expose anauthentication module of the recipient mail service hosted in the seconddomain to enable the recipient device to obtain a token from therecipient mail service to associate with the first domain.

Example Clause D, the computer-implemented method of any of ExampleClauses A through C, further comprising: receiving authentication datafrom the recipient mail service; determining, based on theauthentication data, whether a token that is received from the recipientdevice is authentic with respect to the recipient email address; andbased on a determination that the token is authentic with respect to therecipient email address, transmitting, to the recipient device, at leastone of the encryption key or a reply containing decrypted contentgenerated from the encrypted content and the key.

Example Clause E, the computer-implemented method of any of ExampleClauses A through D, wherein the link enables a mail module, that isoperating on the recipient device to provide access to the recipientmailbox, to automatically transmit a token provided by the recipientmail service to the enhanced email service.

Example Clause F, the computer-implemented method of any of ExampleClauses A through E, the method further comprising: receiving, from themail module, a request that includes the token in association with therecipient email address; transmitting, to the mail module, theencryption key to enable the mail module to decrypt the encryptedcontent to display a decrypted version of the content.

Example Clause G, the computer-implemented method of any of ExampleClauses A through F, wherein the link is usable at the recipient deviceto cause the enhanced email service to transmit a passcode message thatincludes a volatile passcode, the method further comprising: receiving,from the recipient device, a request that includes the volatilepasscode; transmitting, to the recipient device, at least one of theencryption key or decrypted content.

Example Clause H, the computer-implemented method of any of ExampleClauses A through G, wherein the receiving the encrypted contentcomprises: receiving content from a mail module of a sender device; andencrypting the content to generate the encrypted content according tothe encryption key.

While Example Clauses A through H are described above with respect to amethod, it is understood in the context of this document that thesubject matter of Example Clauses A through H can also be implemented bya device, by a system, and/or via computer-readable storage media.

Example Clause I, a system for providing an enhanced email service, thesystem comprising: a processor; and a memory in communication with theprocessor, the memory having computer-readable instructions storedthereupon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor toperform operations comprising: receiving encrypted content that isconfigured according to an encryption key; generating a message thatincludes a link and the encrypted content that is configured accordingto the encryption key, wherein the message designates a recipient emailaddress; storing the message in an organizational mailbox that isaddressable from a recipient device by use of the link; storing theencryption key in a key store, wherein the key store is configured toprovide access to the encryption key by the use of a token; sending themessage to a recipient mailbox corresponding to the recipient emailaddress; receiving the token from the recipient device; and providingthe recipient device with decrypted access to the encrypted content uponverifying that the token is authentic with respect to the recipientemail address.

Example Clause J, the system of Example Clause I, wherein providing therecipient device with decrypted access to the encrypted contentcomprises sending the encryption key to the recipient device to enable adecryption module of the recipient device to locally decrypt theencrypted content.

Example Clause K, the system of any of Example Clauses I through J,further comprising receiving an indication of decryption parametersassociated with the recipient device, and wherein providing therecipient device with decrypted access to the encrypted contentcomprises: determining, based on the decryption parameters, whether tosend the encryption key to the recipient device or to decrypt theencrypted content to generate decrypted content to send to the recipientdevice.

Example Clause L, the system of any of Example Clauses I through K,further comprising erasing the message from the organizational mailboxupon providing the recipient device with the decrypted access to themessage.

Example Clause M, the system of any of Example Clauses I through L,wherein receiving the encrypted content includes receiving asender-originated message from a sender mail service that includes theencrypted content and the encryption key, and wherein generating themessage includes extracting the encryption key from thesender-originated message and generating the link to provide access tothe encryption key based on the token.

Example Clause N, the system of any of Example Clauses I through M,wherein the organizational mailbox is hosted in a first domain and therecipient mailbox is hosted in a second domain, and wherein the link isconfigured to open a webpage that exposes an authentication moduleassociated with the second domain to the first domain to authenticatethe recipient device with respect to the recipient email address.

Example Clause O, the system of any of Example Clauses I through N,further comprising deleting the message subsequent to the sending themessage to the recipient mailbox and prior to the receiving the tokenfrom the recipient device.

While Example Clauses I through O are described above with respect to asystem, it is understood in the context of this document that thesubject matter of Example Clauses I through O can also be implemented bya device, via a computer-implemented method, and/or viacomputer-readable storage media.

Example Clause P, a system for delivery of messages, the systemcomprising: a processor; and a memory in communication with theprocessor, the memory having computer-readable instructions storedthereupon that are executable by the processor to: receive encryptedcontent that is configured according to an encryption key; generate amessage that includes a link and the encrypted content that isconfigured according to the encryption key, wherein the messagedesignates a recipient email address, and wherein the message furtherdesignates a sender email address associated with a sender mail service;send, at a first time, the message to a recipient mailbox correspondingto the recipient email address; store, in an organizational mailbox ofan enhanced email service, the encryption key in association with therecipient email address, wherein the organizational mailbox is differentthan a sender mailbox corresponding to the sender email address; andreceive, at a second time that is subsequent to the first time, arequest from a recipient device for decrypted access to the content,wherein the request includes a token provided by a mail service, thetoken to verify an authenticity of the request with respect to therecipient email address, wherein the encrypted content is not stored inthe organizational mailbox at the second time.

Example Clause Q, the system of Example Clause P, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processor to: receive theencrypted content from the recipient device is association with therequest; decrypt, based on the encryption key, the encrypted content togenerate decrypted content; and send the decrypted content to therecipient device.

Example Clause R, the system of any of Example Clauses P through Q,wherein the organizational mailbox is hosted in a first domain and therecipient mailbox is hosted in a second domain, and wherein the requestfor decrypted access to the content is automatically generated by a mailmodule that is operating locally on the recipient device and isconfigured to automatically communicate recipient credentials to themail service.

Example Clause S, the system of any of Example Clauses P through R,wherein receiving the encrypted content includes receiving asender-originated first message that designates the sender email addressand the recipient email address.

While Example Clauses P through S are described above with respect to asystem, it is understood in the context of this document that thesubject matter of Example Clauses P through S can also be implemented bya device, via a computer-implemented method, and/or viacomputer-readable storage media.

Example Clause T, a computer-implemented method for providing anenhanced email service, the method comprising: receiving, at theenhanced email service, content that is designated for transmission to arecipient email address that corresponds to a recipient mailbox, whereinthe enhanced email service is associated with a predetermined domain;determining whether the enhanced email service hosts the recipientmailbox; and based on a determination that the enhanced email servicedoes host the recipient mailbox: sending an unencrypted version of thecontent to the recipient mailbox; or based on a determination that theenhanced email service does not host the recipient mailbox: sending anencrypted version of the content to the recipient mailbox as anattachment to a message that includes a link to enable decryption of theencrypted version, storing at least one of the encrypted version of thecontent or the encryption key in an organizational mailbox that isaddressable from a recipient device by use of the link; receiving atoken from the recipient device; and providing the recipient device withdecrypted access to the content upon verifying that the token isauthentic with respect to the recipient email address.

Example Clause U, the computer-implemented method of Example Clause T,wherein the enhanced email service does host the recipient mailbox, theoperations further comprising: receiving transmission restriction dataassociated with the content; and denying, based on the transmissionrestriction data, a request to forward the unencrypted version of thecontent from the recipient mailbox.

In closing, although the various configurations have been described inlanguage specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, itis to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appendedrepresentations is not necessarily limited to the specific features oracts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:generating a message that: designates a recipient address and a senderaddress, and includes a link to an unencrypted version of encryptedcontent; transmitting the message to a recipient mailbox that isaccessible based on recipient credentials associated with the recipientaddress; storing at least one of the encrypted content or the message inan organizational mailbox that is: addressable by use of the link, anddifferent than a sender mailbox that is accessible based on sendercredentials associated with the sender address; receiving, from arecipient device, a first request that is indicative of activation ofthe link; transmitting, to the recipient mailbox in response to thefirst request, a passcode message that includes a passcode associatedwith the unencrypted version of the encrypted content; receiving, fromthe recipient device, a second request that includes the passcode; andresponsive to the second request, provisioning the recipient device withaccess to the unencrypted version of the encrypted content.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein both of theorganizational mailbox and the sender mailbox are hosted in at least onefirst domain that is different than a second domain in which therecipient mailbox is hosted by a recipient mail service.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the link is configuredto expose an authentication module of the recipient mail service toenable the recipient device to obtain a token from the recipient mailservice.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: storing at least one of the encrypted content or the messagein the sender mailbox that is accessible based on the sender credentialsassociated with the sender address.
 5. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, further comprising: causing the message to be erased fromthe organizational mailbox in response to the provisioning the recipientdevice with access to the unencrypted version of the encrypted content.6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the link enablesa mail module, that is operating on the recipient device to provideaccess to the recipient mailbox, to automatically transmit a tokenprovided by a recipient mail service associated with the recipientaddress to an enhanced mail service associated with the organizationalmailbox.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theprovisioning the recipient device with access to the unencrypted versionof the encrypted content includes sending an encryption key to therecipient device to enable a decryption module to decrypt the encryptedcontent at the recipient device.
 8. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the provisioning the recipient device with access tothe unencrypted version of the encrypted content includes: obtaining theencrypted content from the organizational mailbox; decrypting theencrypted content to generate the unencrypted version of the encryptedcontent; and sending the unencrypted version of the encrypted content tothe recipient device.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving authentication data from a recipient mailservice associated with the recipient address; and determining, based onthe authentication data, whether a token that is received from therecipient device is authentic with respect to the recipient address,wherein the provisioning the recipient device with access to theunencrypted version of the encrypted content is responsive to adetermination that the token is authentic with respect to the recipientaddress.
 10. A system comprising: at least one processor; and memory incommunication with the at least one processor, the memory havingcomputer-readable instructions stored thereupon that, when executed bythe at least one processor, cause the system to: receive encryptedcontent that is configured according to an encryption key; generate amessage that designates a sender address and that includes a link foraccessing an unencrypted version of the encrypted content; transmit themessage to a recipient mailbox that is accessible based on recipientcredentials associated with a recipient address; store the encryptedcontent in an organizational mailbox that is different than a sendermailbox that is associated with the sender address; receive, from arecipient device, a first request that is indicative of activation ofthe link; transmit, to the recipient mailbox in response to the firstrequest, a passcode message that includes a passcode associated with theunencrypted version of the encrypted content; receive, from therecipient device, a second request that includes the passcode; andresponsive to the second request, provide the recipient device withaccess to the unencrypted version of the encrypted content.
 11. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the computer-readable instructions, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, further cause the system to:receive an indication of decryption parameters associated with therecipient device; and determine, based on the decryption parameters,whether to send the encryption key to the recipient device.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the computer-readable instructions, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, further cause the system to:receive an indication of decryption parameters associated with therecipient device; and determine, based on the decryption parameters,whether to send the unencrypted version of the encrypted content to therecipient device.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein both of theorganizational mailbox and the sender mailbox are hosted in at least onefirst domain that is different than a second domain in which therecipient mailbox is hosted by a recipient mail service.
 14. The systemof claim 13, wherein the link is configured to expose an authenticationmodule of the recipient mail service to enable the recipient device toobtain a token from the recipient mail service.
 15. The system of claim10, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the atleast one processor, further cause the system to store at least one ofthe encrypted content or the message in the sender mailbox.
 16. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein provisioning the recipient device withaccess to the unencrypted version of the encrypted content includessending the encryption key to the recipient device to enable adecryption module to generate the unencrypted version of the encryptedcontent.
 17. A system for delivery of messages, the system comprising:at least one processor; and memory in communication with the at leastone processor, the memory having computer-readable instructions storedthereupon that are executable by the at least one processor to: generatea message that: designates a recipient address and a sender address, andincludes a link for accessing an unencrypted version of encryptedcontent; transmit the message to a recipient mailbox that is accessiblebased on recipient credentials associated with the recipient address;store at least one of the encrypted content or the message in anorganizational mailbox that is: addressable by use of the link, anddifferent than a sender mailbox that is accessible based on sendercredentials associated with the sender address; receive, from arecipient device, a first request that is indicative of activation ofthe link; transmit, to the recipient mailbox in response to the firstrequest, a passcode message that includes a passcode associated with theunencrypted version of the encrypted content; receive, from therecipient device, a second request that includes the passcode; andresponsive to the second request, provision the recipient device withaccess to the unencrypted version of the encrypted content.
 18. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further executable bythe processor to: receive the encrypted content from the recipientdevice is association with the request; decrypt, based on an encryptionkey, the encrypted content to generate decrypted content; and send thedecrypted content to the recipient device.
 19. The system of claim 17,wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:delete the message from the organizational mailbox upon providing therecipient device with the decrypted access to the message.
 20. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the organizational mailbox is hosted in afirst domain and the recipient mailbox is hosted in a second domain.